Address plate



Feb. 16, 1937. w. 'r. GQLLWIfZER 2,070,591

' ADDRESS PLATE Filed Aug. 51, 1953 ISAAC WALTON I l .ITHICA N.Y. 5o 12 be I i eallan I I nonkw JAAZI A 9m 30 Ma ASIHTI 76 QMM Mel/d Oktwwug Patented Feb. 16, 1937 UNITED STATES awsm ATET OFFICE ADDRESS PLATE tion of Delaware Application August 31, 1933, Serial No. 687,616

6 Claims.

In my prior application 612,955, filed May 23, 1932, I have shown an address plate comprising a frame having means for engaging the longitudinal edges of an embossed printing plate and having flat spring tongues carrying raised abutments to coact with the ends of the printing plate. The printing plate there shown has a notch in the end with parallel side edges to form a close engagement with the side edges of a portion of the raised abutment which connects the lip thereon with the body of the spring tongue.

Now, I have found that under certain circumstances the parallel-sided notches in the plate cease to be effective and the plate when embossed is liableto become too long to seat between the raised abutments on the spring tongues. Also the notch sometimes became too narrow at the entrance for the connecting portion of the abutment to enter the notch. I find that this action is caused by the distortion of the metal plate due to the embossing of characters comparatively near the end thereof.

As a result of experiment and trial I have found that I can cure the described difficulty by making the notch slightly flaring. If the notch has its base (that is the boundary most distant from the end and parallel therewith) of a length substantially equal to the corresponding dimension of the connecting portion between the abutment and spring tongue of the frame, and then has the side Walls of the notch diverge slightly from such base to the end of the plate, the result will be that when embossed the plate adjacent the ends will flow into the notch, so that the ultimate side walls of the notch will be substantially parallel or at least will not choke the entrance to the notch. This provision also will either do away with the longitudinal protrusion of the plate, or so reduce it as to render it negligible.

My invention may be stated to comprise a printing plate adapted for mounting on a frame and having in its end a notch with its side edges flaring sufficiently to avoid the troublesome distortion but not sufficiently to interfere with the accurate holding of the plate by the frame-portion occupying the notch. The invention is hereinafter more fully explained in connection with the drawing.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a plan of an address plate comprising a frame carrying an index card and one of my printing plates; Fig. 2 is a plan of a portion of the frame and printing plate with the latter partially removed; Fig. 3 is a sectional perspective of an end portion of the frame and a printing plate mounted thereon; Fig. 4 is a perspective of an end portion of the frame without the printing plate; Fig. 5 is a cross-section through a portion of the frame and the printing plate mounted thereon, as indicated by the line 5-5 on Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a plan of a portion of the plate near one end before it is embossed; Fig. 7 is a plan of the same after it is embossed; Fig. 8 is a plan of the former plate before embossing, and Fig. 9 after embossing; Figs. 10 and 11 are vertical sections through the embossing dies illustrating the action thereof on the printing plate, each view being a section on the correspondingly numbered line on the other View.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 4, Ill indicates the frame of the address plate; 20 the printing plate mounted thereon, and 30 the index card which may also be mounted on the address plate. ,As shown the address plate is a sheet-metal member having a curled-over lower edge I l and stamped-up downwardly projecting ears 12 to form a slideway for the printing plate, and a curled-over upper edge [3 and stamped-up upwardly projecting ears M to form a pocket in which the index card 30 may be mounted.

The lower portion of the frame I I3 is formed with spring tongues l5 cut out of the body of the plate, each having near one end a raised lip l6 presenting abrupt shoulders H to engage the end of the printing plate, and a gradually inclined central portion 18 connecting the raised lip with the body of the tongue, and adapted to occupy the notch of the plate. The raised portion is also connected with the body of the tongue by extreme portions I9 set back beyond the abrupt shoulders H.

The frame above described is claimed in my co-pending application referred to, and is here set out in order that the action of the printing plate may be better understood.

The printing plate 20 is of such a size that it may be readily slid into place in the shallow pocket provided by the curled over edge H and the overhanging ears l2. If desired, the upper and lower edges of this plate may be scalloped as shown, which has been found to aid in the ready insertion of the plate into the pocket. The plate has in each end a central notch 2|, which is designed to receive the connecting portion l8 of the spring tongue when the end of the plate abuts the abrupt shoulders IT. The notch is comparatively narrow, by which is meant a recess the maximum dimension of which in a direction across the plate is less than the exposed end of the plate on either side of the recess. In other words, the height of the notch is less than onethird the height of the plate; The depth of this notch from the end of the plate is at least as great as the longitudinal dimension of the connecting portion l8 of the tongue, so that the end of the plate on opposite sides of the notch may freely abut the shoulders IT. The width of the notch at its base is preferably substantially the same as that of the connecting portion l8, while the side walls of the notch flare from such base toward the edge of the plate, as shown in Fig. 6. 7

When such a plate as illustrated in Fig. 8 is submitted to the action of an embossing machine to print characters thereon, if these characters come close to the notch they distort the metal of the plate, and if there is'no place for this metal to go, it will cause the plate to protrude at the end, or the notch to become narrowed at its opening, each of which conditions is troublesome in the mounting of the plate on the frame. With the flaring notch, however, the embossing action tends to bring the notch back into a parallel-sided opening so that it will not bind on the connecting portion l8 of the frame tongue, nor will it protrude troublesomely beyond the end of the plate. I have illustrated the action of the embossing operation in Fig. I, where the pressing action of the dies in making the characters 22 causes the side walls of the notch 2| to approach each other into a nearly parallel form. If the printing characters are not so near the notch, the distortion of the flare will not be so great, but by flaring the notch originally as shown in Fig. 6, I find it will take care of any distortion which occurs during the embossing action.

The distortion adjacent the end of the plate results from thespreading or flowing of the metal of the plate, due to the pressure of the embossing dies. As illustrated, forinstance, in Figs. 10 and 11, the two dies 40 act on the plate 20 to form first a raised seat on the plate, designated 24, and then the character 22, still further raised from the seat. The result is the material of the plate has been considerably reduced in thickness and changed in form by the pressure of the dies, which causes the metal of the plate to flow in the direction of the plane of the plate. Some of this flow is toward the end of the plate and is sufficiently resisted by the plate except adjacent the notch, but with the flaring notch the adjacent longitudinal action on the metal causes it to flow into the notch instead of being carried to the end of the plate, and likewise the lateral flow is received in the notch, so that the notch accommodates the distortioinand the latter ceases to be troublesome, as illustrated by the notch 2la in Fig. 7. V r

In contra-distinction to the above, I have illustrated in Fig. 8 the former plate 50 having a notch 51 originally parallel-sided. When this plate is correspondingly embossed adjacent the notch this notch takes the form illustrated at m in Fig. 9. Thus not only is the notch narrowed, but the plate protrudes at the end, and interferes with proper'seating on. the'frame. I have found that sometimes the connecting por tion 18 of the frame tongue and lip would not enter the notch 5|, and sometimes the end protrusion at 52 was so great that the plate would not seat between the raised. shoulders I! of the abutments at opposite ends.

It is desirable not to give a greater flare to the notch than necessary to accommodate the most any movement of the printing plate toward the top or bottom of the frame. Likewise there must always be a sufficient amount of the end edge of the plate left to abut effectively the two shoulders IT. As the length of these shoulders is approximately that of the depth of the notch, it follows that a flare of 45 for the side wall of the notch would prevent any proper engagement with the shoulder ll. Therefore, it may be stated that the flare must be less than 45 to a line normal to the end of the plate. My experience has demonstrated that it is preferable to make the flare much less than any such extreme, and about that shown in Fig. 6 of the drawing.

While I do not wish to limit myself to particular dimensions I have found that with the frame of the form shown in Fig. 4 having the connecting portion 18 of a longitudinal extent of .040 inch, and of a width (measured parallel with the end of the plate) of .O55 inch, I can obtain excellent-results by a plate having a notch of a depth of .045 inch and a width which at the bottom is .055 inch and at the top (that is the end edge of the plate) is .080 inch. With such a holder and such a plate the end of the plate firmly abuts the shoulders H on' opposite sides of the notch and the flaring side walls of the notch at the base of the notch substantially engage the edges of the connecting portion l8. This is sufiicient to hold the plate located in the desired position without further bearing ofthe sides of the notch against the connection l8. However, if the plate is embossed with characters near the notch, the notch assumes a more nearly parallel-sided opening, as appears in Fig. '7, and then bears to a greater extent on the edges of the connecting portion l8.

I have found that, with the dimensions above given, the embossing action will in no case close the notch beyond its width at the base so that there is no constriction on the connection I8 of the frame. At the same time'the comparatively slight flare described does not interfere with the effective holding of the plate against shifting up and down the frame, or its end engagement with the abutment shoulders I1.

It will be seen that I have provided a plate which is substantially universal in action and is adapted to be effectively mounted on a holder or frame of the character described. irrespective of the amount of embossing on the plate.

I claim:

l. A blank for a printing plate adapted to be embossed and mounted on a frame, said blank being relatively long and narrow having a comparatively narrow notch in one end, said notch having straight sides flaring toward the edge of the blank at an angle diverging from a right angle less than 45.

2. The method of forming a printing plate having a parallel sided notch comprising forming in an end edge of a blank a notch flaring toward a side edge and embossing the blank to form printing characters thereon and to force simultaneously said flared edge of the notch into parallel relationship to the side edge of the blank.

3. The method of forming an address plate having a comparatively narrow parallel-sided notch in its end comprising forming the notch in the end of the metal blank with the notch flaring toward the side edges of the blank and embossing the plate to form printing characters thereon and force simultaneously the flared edges of the notch into parallel relationship.

4. A metal plate adapted to be embossed and thereafter inserted in an address plate frame, having retaining means to engage the edges of the plate and a spring tongue to coact with one end thereof, said plate having a length materially longer than an ordinary address and a Width approximately one-third of the length, there being formed in the end of the plate a notch which has a width approximately one-tenth of that of the plate and is located centrally on the end so that the amount of metal left at the end on each side of the notch is materially greater than the width of the notch, the notch being adapted to receive the connecting portion on a spring tongue carried by the frame, the notch before the plate is embossed having its base narrower than its mouth.

5. A relatively long and narrow plate adapted to be embossed and thereafter inserted in an address plate frame having a spring tongue with a raised lip and a raised connection between the lip and the body of the tongue, said plate having an end adapted to engage the lip adjacent the connection and having a comparatively narrow notch which the connection may occupy while the lip is in engagement with the end, said notch before the plate is embossed having its sides flaring so that its mouth is; of greater dimension that its base.

6. A relatively long and narrow plate adapted to be embossed and thereafter inserted in an address plate frame having a spring tongue with a raised lip and an inclined central connection between the lip and the body of the tongue, said plate having a straight end interrupted in its mid-region by an open notch, which the connection may occupy while the end edge of the plate on opposite sides of the notch engages the lip, said notch before the plate is embossed having its sides slightly flaring so that its mouth is of greater dimension than its base, but is still narrow enough so that the end edge may effectively abut said raised lips.

WALTER T. GOLLWITZER. 

